Aroostook State Park cancels winter fun day for lack of snow

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — After temperature swings and rain left little snow and a lot of ice, Aroostook State Park staff decided to call off its annual Winter Family Fun Day scheduled for this Saturday.

“Due to melting snow conditions and threat to public safety we are canceling the Winter Family Fun Day,” park manager Scott Thompson said in a press release issued Wednesday.

The winter celebration at Aroostook State Park in Presque Isle usually draws hundreds for cross-country skiing, sledding and snowshoe hikes. The Maine State Park equipment trailer was set to have skis and snowshoes to lend visitors free of charge for use at the park, which includes 15 miles of winter trails going up and around Quoggy Jo Mountain.

“Snowshoe trails are icy but passable,” and the sliding hill is closed “until conditions improve,” park officials said. The “ski trails are icy and ungroomed at this time. Grooming will take place if we receive significant snowfall.”

The event is not being rescheduled, since there is “no guarantee of snow condition improvements,” Thompson said. A group snowshoe hike that was organized by The Aroostook Medical Center at the state park Saturday will be rescheduled.

Elsewhere in The County, Quoggy Jo Ski Center, a community ski hill in Presque Isle, is closed until there is sufficient snow, and other ski and snowmobile trails are passable at best. In Caribou, the snowmobile trails are “very icy and hard,” and won’t be groomed until there’s more snow, said the Caribou Snowmobile Club in a Facebook post. Bigrock Mountain in Mars Hill, which has snowmaking equipment, is still open for downhill skiing.

As for any snowfall in the forecast, the next week will bring “three shots at rain or snow,” Todd Foisy, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service’s Caribou office, said Wednesday.

On Friday night and Saturday, up to 3 inches of snow may fall before changing to light rain in most areas of Aroostook County, with a high of 36 degrees expected for central Aroostook, Foisy said.

Sunday night and Monday offer the possibility of another limited snow or rain event, and then next Wednesday and Thursday comes the chance for “a more significant East Coast storm,” Foisy said. “The type of precipitation that falls is very much in question.”